


a bustling ecosystem like get it they're all ocean creature kin so its like an ecosystem idk how to title things i never have

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual, Brotp, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, NB, Nonbinary, Other, Trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-10-21 03:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10676394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: au where they all work at an aquarium with the things they're kin ofTaemin catches mer eye in the mirror. “Are you gonna wash up?” he asks. Jonghyun looks at him for a moment, and then at merself in the mirror.Even with mer tail and elbow fins taken off, mer still looks gorgeous and mermaidy. Glittery chest, sparkly eye makeup, seashells and flowers on mer face and hair, little patterns of scales painted by mer waistline, the gills painted on mer neck and inked into mer sides.tumblr





	a bustling ecosystem like get it they're all ocean creature kin so its like an ecosystem idk how to title things i never have

They really could not have gotten someone more qualified for this job.

Taemin knows that he thinks that a lot, but sometimes, on days like this, he really, _really_ means it. He takes deep breaths as he holds himself up just above the surface of the water, listening to Krystal’s voiceover, waiting for his cue. He beats his tail in a steady rhythm and closes his eyes to let his memories flood through his mind. It’s the wrong swimming style, but it’s close enough, and if he clears his mind enough, he swears he can almost forget that it’s his legs squished together in this heavy fabric and is instead his actual fin moving him through the water. It’s another minute or two before he hears it.

“But still, as versatile and quick as the lionfish is, there are still bigger fish, bigger predators, waiting in the depths.”

Taemin grins to himself as he takes his final breath for the next few minutes and ducks underwater. He swims under the low wall out of sight of the audience, body undulating with natural grace to propel him through the water. Sliding himself into the fake seaweed at the bottom of the tank, hidden but just visible enough for them to notice him (especially the little kids pressed right up against the glass), he counts down seven seconds while Krystal continues to speak.

Then he bursts into full view, right front and center, flashing his fake fangs at the audience in a wicked smirk. He doesn’t hear Kryal introducing him over the rush of the water, but he already knows who he is. A shark, every shark, large and powerful. He takes pride in everyone’s shocked expressions as he swims and turns and shows himself off, his stuck on fins, his wide black contacts, the gills painted onto his sides and his neck. A literal shark, playing a shark. He couldn’t have asked for a job more tailor-made for him.

Once he’s finished with his preening, he twists in the water in sync with the narration to find Jonghyun, pretty, gorgeous, colorful Jonghyun, smiling serenely in mer own mermaid costume. Jonghyun pretends like mer doesn’t notice him and Taemin grins to himself. He loves this part. He turns to the kids and presses a finger to his lips, throwing in a wink for good measure, and starts towards the other side of the tank. He listens vaguely to the narration about how his kind hunt and reaches out for Jonghyun’s waist a second before he’s technically supposed to.

Jonghyun is ready for him this time; mer twists out of the way before Taemin can tickle mer sides and makes sure Taemin just gets mer shoulders instead. Taemin cocks a brow at the exasperated look mer gives him under mer glittery eye makeup and stick on shells. Can’t blame him for trying. They go through their practised motions, Taemin trying to “bite” Jonghyun’s flashy orange tail, Jonghyun “stabbing” Taemin with mer “poisonous spikes,” Taemin wiggling off to an unseen area of the tank “in pain” to take a quick breath of air. While he sucks in lungfuls of oxygen, Krystal explains over the mic about camouflage.

When he dips back underwater, he does have to admit that Jonghyun is getting better at hiding merself in the orange and brown fake coral over in the corner. Especially since mer finally touched up mer roots last week. The brown-to-blonde effect was kind of ruined by the black starting to creep back in. Taemin fakes looking around with exaggerated gestures, even going so far as to tap on the glass in front of a kid and give them a questioning look. They don’t rat Jonghyun out, which makes Taemin want to smile, but he puts on a grumpy frown instead. He swims to the center of the tank and crosses his arms, pouting as pathetically as he can while Krystal explains that he’s just trying to get food to survive. He remembers the feeling well from his meditation.

While Jonghyun ducks off to mer own secret air compartment, Taemin does his best to get the kids to agree that he deserves food. Like usual, they get all excited about the shark getting fed and agree enthusiastically. Taemin grins when some of the volunteers start chucking tightly sealed plastic eggs into the water to float down at him. He gathers them all up skillfully, then swims to the top of the tank and tosses a few to some of the more eager looking kids. Inside are just simple little toys, examples of the kinds of fish that other sharks do hunt for.

While he’s there, Jonghyun comes up with a few of mer own prizes as well while Krystal explains that even the small fish usually eat smaller fishes. The whole circle of life thing. There’s also some stuff about sharks being trained to take care of lionfish overpopulation, which Taemin is kind of proud of his kin for. He nudges Jonghyun’s side with a grin; Jonghyun nudges him back with one to match. They both dive back underwater as Krystal wraps up the short demonstration, smiling bright and twirling their fins to show off one last time before they swim back to the starting room.

“That was good,” he says after he hoists himself out of the pool to sit on the edge. Jonghyun smiles back, staying in the water but resting mer elbows on the rim.

“Did you see the kid with the Splatoon hat?” mer asks. “ _So cute_.”

“I know, oh my god,” Taemin agrees. He pushes his wavy black hair out of his face and sways his tail in the water. Two more repeats of that before he’s done for the day. For now, he checks the paint on his sides to make sure he doesn’t need a touch up before the next show. He’s feeling extra sharky today and wouldn’t want to be lacking in his appearances.

~

Jonghyun groans as mer wiggles out of mer fake golden tail. Mer always hates this part. It’s the awkward wet clinging, the clumsy shuffling, the harsh reminder that mer’s stuck with human legs and a human body and human lungs that can’t breathe water and all kinds of bullshit. Normally mer’s okay with it, only has a few grumbles about it, but sometimes the disconnect is more intense than usual. Mer just counts merself lucky mer’s unlearned enough internalized shit about gender to be comfortable in mer body as both a demiman and a woman. Mer enjoys not having two types of dysphoria at once. A soft chuckling nearby makes mer look up to frown at Taemin hanging up his own shark tail on the wall.

“Stop laughing at my troubles,” mer whines. “You know I always have problems getting out of this.” It’s a whole daily event. Taemin’s grin grows wider, but he smoothes it away as best he can with a hand.

“Sorry,” he says. “Do you want help?”

“Yes,” Jonghyun pouts. Mer twists around on the moist bench of the locker room, props merself up on mer elbows, and wiggles mer half uncovered legs at mer friend. Taemin sits at the opposite end and grabs the material of the tail, peeling it off of Jonghyun easily. He gives Jonghyun’s knee a little pat with a little smile when he’s done and gets up to hang the tail up next to his own. Jonghyun smiles thankfully at his back, but as he rubs warmth back into his own legs, it fades to a frown.

“Having a bad body day?” Taemin asks then, and when Jonghyun looks up, he’s giving mer a sympathetic smile. Jonghyun shrugs back. Mer doesn’t really feel like talking about it.

“I had a new memory this morning,” mer says, changing the subject. Taemin hums in question and reaches for Jonghyun’s hand to tug mer over to the sinks and mirrors. “When you were making up that little dance over breakfast. I think someone I lived with underwater a few lifetimes ago used to do the same thing.”

“Really?” Taemin asks, grinning over his shoulder. “Were they a mershark?”

“I don’t remember that much,” Jonghyun laughs. “But they reminded me of you.”

“I told you we were soulmates,” Taemin says, nudging Jonghyun’s shoulder. Jonghyun nudges him back. Mer knows that Taemin thinks that. Mer thinks it’s cute. Mer grabs a towel from the sink for mer hair as Taemin grabs one for his body, drying himself all off and getting some of the ink of his body paint onto the cotton. Jonghyun grabs a hand towel next, as well as the bucket and special soap they keep over here for washing up. As Taemin pulls out some makeup remover wipes, Jonghyun starts working on rubbing away the dark gills painted onto his sides. Taemin catches mer eye in the mirror. “Are you gonna wash up?” he asks. Jonghyun looks at him for a moment, and then at merself in the mirror.

Even with mer tail and elbow fins taken off, mer still looks gorgeous and mermaidy. Glittery chest, sparkly eye makeup, seashells and flowers on mer face and hair, little patterns of scales painted by mer waistline, the gills painted on mer neck and inked into mer sides. Mer doesn’t want to lose this just yet.

“Not now,” mer says. “I still have more shows after lunch, remember?” Mer has the reef preservation show and the kiddie Q&A.

“Mmm,” Taemin hums. Jonghyun picks up on the knowing in that and pokes Taemin’s side enough to make him squeak. So what if mer usually washes up and then reapplies everything after lunch. Mer doesn’t feel like parting so much with mer connection right now. “We need bread, right?” Taemin asks suddenly. Jonghyun pauses for a moment in mer scrubbing of Taemin’s side. Mer forgot Taemin was going to hit the store on his way home and doesn’t remember what they needed.

“I... think?” mer says. “And cereal. Cheerios.” Mer loves Cheerios.

“Kay,” Taemin says, going back to his makeup. Jonghyun smiles as mer watches him swipe silver and white away from their eyes. Mer finishes Taemin’s right side and moves to his left next, trailing mer fingers over the knobs of his spine as mer moves. The shiver that passes mer fingers makes mer grin.

“Hey,” mer says softly. “You’re my favorite datemate.”

“I’m your only datemate,” Taemin says, cocking a brow at mer in the mirror. Jonghyun grins and fluffs mer fingers through his wet hair.

“But if I ever do get another,” mer says. “You’d still be my favorite. The honorary favorite.”

“Yeah?” Taemin asks.

“Yeah,” Jonghyun smiles. Mer revels in the way Taemin’s cheeks go pink. And he says he doesn’t get romance. He gets flattery, at least, and that’s definitely something Jonghyun can give him. Mer hands him the washcloth after he finishes rubbing off his side so he can clean his own neck. Then mer goes to their lockers, opening both with ease and pulling out their clothes and dry underwear. Mer frowns at mer tight tshirt for a moment. This won’t work at all. Mer carefully pulls on Taemin’s red plaid button up instead, and wiggles into mer pants before bringing Taemin his clothes.

“Isn’t that my shirt?” Taemin asks when he catches sight of Jonghyun in the mirror. Jonghyun grins with a shrug and tosses mer tshirt at Taemin easily.

“I didn’t want to mess up my makeup,” mer says. Taemin rolls his eyes at mer excuse but doesn’t try to fight mer. Instead, he turns in his chair and reaches to do the buttons up for mer. Before he finishes even the bottom one, he pauses. He pushes the shirt more open instead and runs his hands over Jonghyun’s stomach, trailing them to mer sides. There he ghosts them over the tattoos, the gills that used to be painted on every day now permanently inked into mer skin. Jonghyun smiles at the contact, at the reminder that they’re a part of mer now.

It was a big decision--a big tattoo--but mer’s really, really glad mer got it done. Of all the things mer’s done to try to connect with his past lives, the tattoos mean the most to mer. Mer felt them there before, astral gills that moved in the water, and somehow having the tattoos both increased the intensity of the experience but also made them less distracting. Mer wants them on mer neck, too, but mer would rather not deal with judging stares from everyone on the daily for having such a visible marking. Taemin smooths his palms over the ink and gives Jonghyun his soothing little smile.

“They really suit you,” he says.

Jonghyun feels like mer smile is going to break open mer face.

~

The conflict of emotions that Jinki gets whenever he steps into the jellyfish exhibit of the aquarium is something that he doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to.

It’s ease, because the place is dark and quiet and calm with flourescent little jellies squishing themselves along, but it’s also unease, because every time he comes here he’s reminded that it’s because he has nowhere else safe to go for this. It’s guilt because every time he tries to go online and just spend some time looking at cute things and memes, some asshole has to come at his blog and tell him he’s fake and attention-seeking and a whole bunch of slurs. All he did was make _one_ post like a _year_ ago asking if anyone could help him understand kin stuff and somehow it blew up with the wrong kind of people and it’s haunted him ever since.

He could delete his blog, but he doesn’t want to lose everything he has saved. He just does his best to block people, but he still can’t go into the kin tags to find information without seeing a bunch of hate and trolls for the community in general. He knows that they’re wrong because he’s read actual professional articles about everything, but still. From an emotional standpoint, they make him second-guess himself. The lack of communication with any actual otherkin paired with the constant assault from assholes make him feel like he really is just fucked up and childish and lying about everything.

But then he comes here. He comes here, to the aquarium, to the Jelly Wonderland on the second floor between the Kelp Forest and the theatre, and he feels… like he’s at home. Relief washes over him as he looks around at all of the jellyfish. There they are. There he is. The tug in his heart, in his soul, is too strong to be anything but real.

A smile breaks onto his face as he slips up to the nearest tank, peering inside at the big Purple-striped jellies. Soft and peachy and flowy and friendly. He smiles at them, recognizes a few specific ones by their spots. He moves on to grin at the Moon jellies. Clear, gentle, smooth, kind. The true jellies are next; tiny, tiny, tiny, adorable little squishes that he could spend hours with. And he does spend hours here, usually, watching the jellies in the darkness. Especially on the weekends like this when he has no other plans.

He sits down gently against the far wall, tucks himself into a corner under the Elegant jellyfish and Blubber jellyfish, closes his eyes for a moment, and breathes slowly. This is good. This is nice. He rests his head against the wall and opens his eyes just enough to be able to watch the jellyfish in the tank in front of him do their thing. He likes to pretend that he’s in there, sometimes. Propelling himself along. Drifting through water so dark it could be space and he a star. Being real and valid. It’s nice.

A door to his right opens; he scoots a little bit more out of the way as two employees let themselves out of whatever it is in there. It’s probably pretty risky to just be sitting on the floor like this right by an employee door, but it’s dark and no one has ever noticed him yet, so. Whatever. Gold sparkles on one of them catch his eye and he watches them for a few seconds with interest as they wait for their coworker.

In the darkness, he can tell they have flashy hair. Glittery gold covers their eyelids, shells and flowers are stuck artistically over their face, and if Jinki squints enough, he can just barely see black lines painted onto their neck. They must be one of the professional mermaids that swim in the shows. It’s kind of weird seeing them walk on two legs. Something feels off. He shrugs it off as they and their friend start walking away, turning his gaze back to his kin. He catches a little snippet of conversation from the dark haired one as they leave:

“And they were like, ‘stop saying you photosynthesize, otherkin already get enough shit already,’ and I’m like, ‘okay, anon, or, I could keep enjoying my plant jokes and _you_ could consider not blaming kin for other people’s decisions, like....” They trail off with distance as Jinki sits bolt fucking upright. Holy shit. Holy shit holy _shit-_ -he scrambles to his feet immediately, shoving his long hair out of his face as he squints through the darkness for that flash of bright hair. He catches the pair turning the corner towards the exit of the jellyfish exhibit and follows them as quickly as possible without running over little kids trying to learn. Thankfully the dark haired one--the plantkin one?--has stopped to watch some of the jellies with a grin just by the curtain. Jinki stops what he hopes is a polite distance away and swallows thickly.

“Uh, excuse me?” he asks. The glittery one turns to him with a curious look, the other only glancing over their shoulder after another moment. Jinki smiles as friendly as he can and fiddles with the collar of his shirt. “Um,” he says. “You two--you work here, right?” That wasn’t what he meant to ask; the glittery one still nods easily.

“Yes, but we’re on break and we really don’t know anything about jellyfish, sorry,” they say. The other one straightens up with a nod and a shrug.

“Oh--no, that’s not--” he takes a deep breath to calm himself. Thank fuck his anxiety is only really focused on his general life and not social shit. He can get through this with only a little nervousness. “Um,” he says again. “I might be wrong, but… did, um. Did you just say something about, um. Other...kin? Maybe? Like, _being_ otherkin?” His voice raises to almost a squeak at the end, which is pretty embarrassing, but at least he got it out. The two look at him, then look at each other; Jinki sees a quick, silent conservation go on between the two of them comprised mostly of shrugs and eyebrow gestures before the dark haired one turns back to him.

“Yeah,” they say. “I’m shark and c--whoa. Bruh. You okay?”

Jinki looks up from where he’s put his face into his hands. He can’t believe it. He can not fucking believe it. The two are looking at him with concern, the glittery one stepping forward with a gentle outstretched hand, and Jinki just rubs his palms into his eyes and pushes his hair back out of his face.

“Yeah, um,” he says, and then he breathes out a huge sigh of relief. For the first time when talking about shit like this, he feels his lips curving into a smile. “Sorry, I’m just. I’ve just. Never met anyone else before.” He’s so happy. This one blessed moment has confirmed his entire existence. The glittery one’s frown of concern shifts into a gorgeous smile as they glance back at their coworker.

“You too?” they ask. Jinki nods weakly. He thinks his hands are shaking from the sudden weight that’s been lifted off of his shoulders.

“I think so,” he says. He bites his lip as he looks between their two excited looks. He doesn’t know if it would be rude or not, but he can’t let this opportunity pass. “Can we talk?” he asks hopefully. The two look at each other again before answering. This time it’s only a quick look and a couple of smiles. They turn those smiles back to Jinki after just a few seconds.

“We were gonna get lunch at the food court,” the golden one tells him. “Wanna come with?” they ask, and when Jinki nods eagerly, their smile goes from bright to radiant. “I’m Jonghyun,” they say, holding out a hand to shake. “And merkin. Mer _maid_ kin.”

“Taemin,” the other one says. They don’t offer their hand but they wave warm and friendly all the same. “Sharkkin, crabkin, and plantkin.”

“Uh, Jinki,” Jinki says. He takes a deep breath and lets it out with what feels like a lifetime’s worth of troubles. “Jellyfishkin.”

~

It’s not until the grown-ass man following behind Kibum’s tour group of junior high kids stops to read the plaque about jellies on the coral reefs that Kibum realizes that he must be the jellyfish that Jonghyun and Taemin met earlier. They wish they’d had more time to read the texts Taemin had sent them before their next tour started. They’d have liked to know a little more about him before he showed up to talk about kin and gender stuff. But, whatever. They were the one that offered to talk to him, the one that said they’d love to help someone else out. They’ll just have to roll with it. They’re good at that anyway.

Kibum steals glances at him over their students’ heads as they guide them all through the sunlit tunnels. They don’t remember his name at all and they feel kind of bad about it. He looks friendly, though, and to be honest, even more reminiscent of a jellyfish than they were expecting. Like, yeah, they all have their little similarities with their kin, like how Kibum is colorful and sharp like the coral they’re showing off, but those are more chosen traits. They chose to dye their hair in rainbow colors and decorate themself with bangles and cute coral decor shit because they wanted to feel closer to their kintype. This new dude following Kibum in polite silence, though. Kibum just _looks_ at him and thinks “jellyfish.”

They think it’s in the long hair curved around his jaw, and the skinny jeans peeping out of the big sweater. The softness of his angles and the slow grace with which he carries himself along. It’s pretty obvious, to be honest. He catches Kibum’s eye and gives them a smile; Kibum returns it and quickly turns back to the kids so he doesn’t see the way they blush. Fuck. He’s cute too. Taemin never mentioned that.

They finish the tour quickly, mostly just going through on autopilot before they lose focus. At the end, they hand out little toys and pamphlets about reefs and environmental protection and whatnot with their usual charming smile. Easy. They take a deep breath to compose themself before lifting their smile up to the jellyfish, the last one to come up for a toy.

“Thank you for taking the time to learn about the wonders of the coral reefs,” they say politely, briskly. They’re hoping it throws him off enough that they’ll be able to regain their composure before he can smile and fluster them again. It works; his lips falter down just a touch and he tilts his head in confusion.

“Um,” he says, “You’re Kibum, right?” he asks. “Taemin… he said, um. He said he told you about me?” He’s still really cute even when he’s uncertain, Kibum notes. They really hope he doesn’t start trying to come onto them. This is one person they want to be akoiromantic with in peace. “I’m, um. I’m Jink--”

“Jinki,” Kibum says, loudly and suddenly. Jinki jumps; Kibum tries to smile apologetically but they think their victorious grin overshadows it. They knew they had his name in there somewhere. “Sorry,” they say after probably too long of a moment. “I’ve just been trying to remember your name this whole time. I’m Kibum, yeah, hi.” They offer their hand to shake.

“Oh,” Jinki says. He still looks confused for a second, but shakes his head and then shakes Kibum’s hand. “Okay, well, um. Not to be blunt or anything, but, wanna talk about kin stuff?” He smiles sheepishly with a little shrug. Kibum finds their lips curving up in reply.

“Sure,” they say. They’ve never been one for small talk anyway. They find it obnoxious and boring. “Walk with me, though,” they add, tugging lightly at Jinki’s sleeve as they head back down the coral tunnel. “I have another tour in ten.” It’s their last one until their shift ends and then the blessed release of a childless home. They’ll never admit it, but they don’t like kids nearly as much as they told Minho they did to get the job. They’re okay, in small doses, sometimes, but on long days like these they really start getting to them. “What kind of kin stuff?” they ask to distract themself from their negative thoughts. A glance over their shoulder finds Jinki trailing along a step behind him.

“Uh, just, like,” he says, grimacing a little like he doesn’t know where to start. “How do you… know?”

Jinki jumps when Kibum laughs, looking confused and a little hurt, and Kibum really does feel kind of bad, but they keep laughing anyway. It’s not their fault their laugh is so loud. And it’s not their fault Jinki asked that specific question. They do their best to smother their laughter after a moment, fanning their face with one hand and running their fingers through their hair with the other.

“Sorry, again, just,” they say. “That is the most cliché question about this shit, like, ever.” About a lot of shit. Pretty much half of Kibum’s life has been spent asking themself how they _know_. How do they know they’re otherkin, how do they know they’re queergender, how do they know they’re arospec, how do they know they’re demisexual. They don’t have solid “proof” of any of this shit and it’s only this past year that they’ve gotten over that. “I just _do_ ,” they tell Jinki simply. They shrug when Jinki tilts his head in confusion. Then they sigh, figuring that they can’t just leave Jinki with that as an explanation. That wouldn’t make them a very informative informant. Jonghyun would never let them live it down.

“Okay, like,” they say, stopping at the door next to the tour start area. They lean up against the wall next to it and peep out to check the line of their next group, turning back to Jinki after. “There are a million reasons,” they say. “It all depends on what you believe. Like, Taemin, right,” they pause, waiting for Jinki to nod that he remembers which one Taemin is. Like anyone could forget.

“Taemin found his kintypes through meditation,” they say. “He was doing it to get closer to God at first, and apparently the big boss upstairs showed him the light or whatever. He says when he relaxes and clears his mind he can really find himself and feel the connection.” Kibum doesn’t really understand, but they’ve never really been as in touch with their Christianity as Taemin is and never had the patience for meditation themself. Not their thing. “And, Jonghyun,” they go on. “Believes in reincarnation. Mer’s been a mermaid for like… I don’t remember, like, six or seven of mer past lives. But now that mer’s a human, mer still remembers mer kin life super clearly and says mer species dysphoria feels pretty similar to the gender dysphoria mer used to have.” Kibum doesn’t get that either, but again, they never really had body dysphoria in the first place. They don’t have the experience with it to make the call. “And Minho, sea’s--wait--”

They cover their mouth quickly before they go outing their boss and friend as like, three different things. That would be just. Grade A asshole behavior. Jinki tilts his head with a questioning hum; Kibum holds up one finger and fumbles in their back pocket for their phone.

“One sec,” they mumble, bringing up their text convo with Minho. “Do you mind if I tell someone else you’re kin?” they ask, glancing up at Jinki. They know Jinki told the other two he was okay with Kibum knowing, but they still want to make sure.

“Uh, no, go ahead,” Jinki says. Kibum gives him a quick smile before they type out a quick text.

**To: Choi Squad  
** 2:33pm  
hey nerd i’m talking to this cute jellyfishkin jinki and trying to explain shit to him do you mind if i tell him you’re kin and agender and a system?? 

It’s barely twenty seconds before they get a text back; they grin. Good ol’ Minho.

**From: Choi Squad  
** 2:33pm  
Sea says it’s okay  <3 

**From: Choi Squad  
** 2:33pm  
Cute like cute or cute like you wanna climb him like a tree?? ~u* 

**From: Choi Squad  
** 2:33pm  
Asking for the twins ^^;; 

**From: Choi Squad  
** 2:33pm  
Also asking for me ouo 

Kibum rolls his eyes at their phone and stuffs it back into their pocket without replying. Same ol’ Minjunggie. They make a note to check up on Minho later; Sea doesn’t normally need one of sear alters to front at work. At least sea’s not completely gone, if Minjung was able to ask sear. Maybe sea just got a little overwhelmed and had to take a break to collect seaself. And Minjung is normally second in command; the aquarium will be fine with her. Kibum turns back to Jinki, who’s looking through the coral reef pamphlet Kibum gave him earlier with interest. Kibum smiles at the sight. He’s so fricking cute.

“Uh, okay,” they say. Jinki blinks and looks up at him, then folds the pamphlet up and stuffs it into his back pocket. He gives Kibum this encouraging little look instead of telling them to continue; Kibum gets the feeling that he doesn’t really talk much sometimes. They can respect that. “Minho,” they say. “Sea’s our manager for this half of the floor, and oceankin. And agender. And part of a system, you know, like,” fuck. They can’t remember the name of the disorder. “With headmates and alters and everything, you know?”

“DID?” Jinki asks. Kibum snaps and points at him dramatically. Nice.

“That, yeah,” they say. Dissociative identity disorder. “Anyway--the others in sear system aren’t all oceankin, I don’t think.” They don’t exactly know the private lives of every single one of them. Kibum doesn’t think they even know about every one of them, to be honest, but that’s Minho’s business. “But Minho’s the one that fronts the most, and sea says sear kintype really helps sear keep things in check and keep seaself focused. In sear head and at this aquarium. It helps sear cope.” They wave a hand around at the general area around them.

That’s a third thing that Kibum doesn’t get, but they do at least know that it works. They knew Minho before sea really started trying to connect with sear kintype; sea wasn’t that great at managing sear problems at all. Now sea is much better at pretty much everything, from organizing schedules to handling sear mental health. They can deal with not knowing how it works as long as their friend stays happy. Jinki hums slowly, fingers playing with the collar of his sweater as he thinks. His face is cute when he’s all pensive and shit; his lips puff up into a little pout and his eyebrows furrow just so. Kibum shakes their head before they get too distracted.

“What about… you?” Jinki asks after a few moments of silence.

“Me,” Kibum says slowly. Them. “I mean,” they say, reaching up to rub where their shoulder meets their neck self-consciously. “I just… know.” They shrug apologetically. It’s not their fault they’re the one that doesn’t have an actual “reason” to be kin. No religion, no memories, no coping strategy. “I kinda just….” They look around at the coral that surrounds the beginning of the tour area and shrug, point at their favorite piece of brain coral. “That me,” they say simply. That’s it. That’s them. Jinki hums again; when Kibum looks, he’s got an amused little smile.

“You feel it in your soul?” he asks. Kibum nods.

“Yeah,” they say. They can’t explain it. It’s just there, inside of them: the knowledge that they are coral. Easygoing and strong and resourceful and beautiful and fragile and important. They know they’re kin with coral the same way they know they’re bi and demisexual even though they’ve never been close enough with someone to “prove” the sexual attraction will be there, the same way they know they don’t fit into the gender binary without really knowing exactly how, the same way they know they absolutely fucking _detest_ carrots even though one has never come within ten inches of their face. They just know. It feels liberating, almost, to be able to say that; they’ve spent way too long struggling to prove shit to people. The best thing to ever happen to them was the realization that they don’t owe anyone else an explanation for their own identity.

They realize they’ve gotten lost in their thoughts again and are staring absent-mindedly into the coral tank. They shake themself back into focus quickly. Looking back at Jinki, they see that he hasn’t really changed except for how his smile is wider now.

“I think I’m the same,” he says. Kibum doesn’t think there are words in any language to describe the heavy amount of relief in his voice. “I just… know,” Jinki says. Kibum smiles back. Good. They pull their phone out of their pocket to check the time; two minutes before they have to start the last tour. They stuff it back into their pocket and face Jinki again.

“Can we put this conversation on hold for now?” they ask. “Taemin said you needed some help with gender shit too, but my next tour is like. Right now. Unless you _just know_ your gender shit also?” They cock a brow knowingly, hopefully, but Jinki snorts and shakes his head.

“God, no,” he says. “I don’t understand gender at all. I tried asking Jonghyun about the otherkin pronouns, but apparently that was a wrong thing to say because mer just. Talked. For like ten minutes. Really fast and I didn’t catch a lot of it and Taemin looked--”

“Like he was dying on the inside?” Kibum asks, remembering the extremely overdramatic texts Taemin sent him an hour ago. They only get those kinds of texts from Taemin when Jonghyun goes on one of mer justice rants at bad times. Jinki nods sheepishly and Kibum rolls his eyes. Of course. Jonghyun was right about Jinki being off, but mer just gets so dense with their explanations sometimes, trying to cover everything too quickly. Mer can’t stay simple. “Okay, well,” they say. “Stick around until my shift ends and I’ll explain why you were super wrong, but, like, slowly. And then help you out with your other shit. Okay?”

“Okay,” Jinki agrees. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and slinks down the coral tunnel with an easy smile. When Kibum sees him next, he’s over by the jellyfish plaque again, smiling at his kin squishing along over the coral. They give him a simple nod over his tour group’s head, just to catch the way his eyes squint up when he smiles back.

~

“...single time, Minjung, come on, you _know_ I _need_ to go back in there really quick, I’m not doing this shit for fun, I’m not addicted to the _water._ ”

Minho blinks into focus, a little dazed. Sea isn’t entirely sure where sea is. A second ago sea was lounging in sear headspace, chilling on the couch between Kyuhyun and Changmin, and calming down from the mess of a panic attack sea had when sea realized sea mixed up the schedules for three people next month. Now sea’s… in sear office. Yeah. Sea recognizes the hardwood paneling on the walls. And in front of sear is… Jonghyun, looking annoyed and huffy and grumpy, arms crossed and frown prominent on mer face. Minho winces. Ugh. She’s done it again.

“Um,” sea says, lifting sear hand to rub sear eye. “Sorry, Jonghyun, what did you want?”

“I--Minho?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my god. Did she just leave again? Every single fucking time, I swear to--can you tell her to stop just switching out in the middle of a conversation?” Jonghyun snaps at sear. Minho winces again. Sea’s so out of it. “She can’t just _stop fronting_ when she’s in the middle of an argument, it’s not--”

“Jonghyun,” Minho holds up a hand to get Jonghyun to stop. “Just… one sec.” Sea takes a minute or two to get back to speed normally when sea slap switches like this. Sea can’t deal with someone being pissy at sear for an argument sea wasn’t even part of. Minjung knows sea likes to cofront for a few minutes before he taps back in.

“Oh--sorry.” Sea rubs sear eyes, then cracks them open to peer at Jonghyun blearily. Mer looks guilty, like mer didn’t even think about remembering to give Minho a minute. Sea smiles as best sea can and takes a step back, feeling behind sear for sear chair to sink into. Sea holds sear face in sear hands, trying to imagine sear headspace underwater apartment for a moment. It’s easy to slip back in, as loopy as sea is right now, and sea pops in for just a moment to scan all of sear alters until sea finds Minjung frowning out the window at the water.

“Thanks a lot,” sea grumbles at her before making the conscious effort to pull seaself back into reality. Sea’s needed here, in the physical world, right now, because Jonghyun has a problem, and Jonghyun with a problem is a problem that always needs to be dealt with before mer temper spikes.

Sea takes deep breaths, imagining seaself as the ocean washing against the shore outside the aquarium. Vast and endless, full of unknown things and a constant mass of movement, currents, high waves, coral, sharks, mermaids. Sea takes sear time in imagining the waves calming down, evening out to a peaceful flat horizon, just gentle ripples along the surface. Under the water, sea breathes deeply as sea imagines all of the different organisms all moving as one whole ecosystem instead of all in a clashing mess. Sea makes little adjustments here and there; nudging a whale closer to their pack, pushing a boat closer to shore, just little things that help sear feel in control.

Once sea has sear mind calm, sea does the same for sear body. Purposefully controlling sear breathing, calming sear movements, pressing lightly on the pressure points in sear neck, sea brings seaself back to reality one sense at a time. It takes sear another minute or two, but eventually, sea looks up to find Jonghyun sitting in the chair opposite sear desk. Sea runs sear fingers through sear hair once more before sea finally regains full focus.

“Sorry,” sea says again. “What were we talking about?”

“I need to go back into the tank really quick,” Jonghyun says. “I lost an earring and I’m pretty sure it’s in there.” Mer taps the back of mer right earlobe to demonstrate, where if Minho squints, sea can see just the soft flesh instead of the yellow shell to match the one on mer left. Still, sea sighs and props sear chin up in sear hand.

“You know you can’t,” sea says heavily. “You know no one’s allowed in unless it’s their performance.” A glance at sear watch tells sear it’s a half hour passed Jonghyun’s final show. Sea thinks right now is the half hour break between the scuba demonstration and the deep sea mermaid show.

“Come on, Minho,” Jonghyun whines. “Five minutes. Tops.”

“No,” Minho says firmly. “No going back in the tank allowed. It’s the rule of the sea.” Sea pats the center of sear desk with authority. Jonghyun’s brows furrow.

“Bullshit,” mer snaps. “It is not the _rule of the sea. You_ made up that rule.”

“Yeah, because _you_ never wanted to get out,” Minho frowns back. It’s not sear fault Jonghyun would always make up excuses to stay in the water for way too long. Sea knows mer feels better in there, closer to mer kintype, but the aquarium is on a schedule. Mer has a pool at home with Taemin to spend mer life in. “Also,” sea adds, “as manager of the aquarium, and as the one that made that rule, and also as the literal ocean, it is, still, technically, the rule of the sea.”

“You--” Jonghyun opens mer mouth to complain more, then closes it and crosses mer arms up even tighter. “I hate you,” mer grumbles. Minho snorts and leans sear cheek more against sear palm.

“How can someone as gorgeous as you hate anyone?” sea asks.

“Easily,” Jonghyun snaps back, but after a moment, mer sighs and leans over to rest mer head on Minho’s desk. “I don’t hate you,” mer mumbles. Minho pats mer head gently.

“I know,” sea says. Jonghyun doesn’t hate anyone except republicans. Jonghyun grumbles more into the desk for a little bit before there’s a knock on the door. Minho looks up; Jonghyun kind of raises mer head halfheartedly.

“Come in,” Minho calls, sitting up straighter to look like sea is qualified for this job. When the door opens and the visitor peeps their head in, though, sea deflates immediately again and goes back to petting Jonghyun’s head. “Hey Tae,” sea says.

“Hi,” Taemin says, shutting the door behind him.

“I thought you were at the store?” Jonghyun asks, frowning in confusion over mer shoulder. Taemin shrugs.

“I was,” he says, walking to Jonghyun and pulling mer to sit up straight and sitting in mer lap. “But there was a bunch of traffic on the way back home and I didn’t want to deal with it.” He shrugs again, then turns to Minho. “Speaking of which,” he adds. “There’s a bunch of traffic, like, right in front of the aquarium. A minor crash or something, I don’t know. Yunho said he’s taking care of it but I figured you should know too.” Minho grunts tiredly in acknowledgement. Sea vaguely remembers someone telling Minjung and Minjung telling sear. One of the other managers is dealing with it. Sea doesn’t have to worry about it. “Anyway,” Taemin says, and Minho notices that he’s gently poking Jonghyun’s right ear. “Couldn’t find your earring?” he asks.

“Drippy won’t let me look,” Jonghyun grumbles. Mer can’t cross merself up like a pretzel with Taemin in mer lap, so mer just hugs him aggressively close instead. Minho rolls sear eyes. Taemin pats mer gently with a little smile.

“It _is_ the rule of the sea,” he says, and Minho doesn’t think he’s ever felt more smug in sear life. Good ol’ Taemin. Jonghyun humphs again though and pouts against Taemin’s shoulder. Taemin turns to Minho with a grin. “Who’s next in there, the scuba presentation? Can’t you just ask Hyo to look for it?”

“Yeah,” Jonghyun says quickly, perking up. “Get Hyoyeon to look for it. I’ll text her a picture, wait--” mer fumbles with mer left ear for a moment, then puts the earring on Minho’s desk to snap a pic with mer phone. Minho grimaces at it. Sea hates the fact that that was just _inside_ of Jonghyun’s ear. Piercings always give sea the heebie-jeebies. Luckily, another knock on the door distracts sear from the jewelry.

“Yeah,” sea calls, and the door opens again. This time it’s two people, Kibum and someone Minho doesn’t know.

“Hey nerd...s,” Kibum says, adding the plural when they notice Jonghyun and Taemin already in here. The two wave back; Minho does too, but only after sea finishes squirming as Jonghyun pokes the earring back into mer lobe.

“Hey,” sea says. “Who’s this?”

“Jinki!” Jonghyun smiles bright, twisting in mer seat to wave. “Hi,” mer smiles. Taemin says the same after he finishes steadying himself from Jonghyun’s movement, and lifts a hand in that lazy wave. Jinki gives them a little smile back with a wave.

“Uh, hey again,” he says. Minho smiles at his bemused shyness. Sea’s pretty sure sea’s right in assuming that this Jinki is the jellyfish Jinki Kibum texted sear about earlier. He’s cute with his poofy sweater and long hair. He shifts his eyes to Minho next with a nervous but friendly smile. “Hi,” he says. “I’m Jinki.” He shrugs a little embarrassedly at introducing himself after Jonghyun already said his name. Minho grins comfortably back.

“Minho,” sea says. And at least thirty others, but sea’ll keep that bit to seaself. Kibum invites themself up to sit on the edge of Minho’s desk like usual. Minho rolls sear eyes but lets them. At least they have an excuse this time with Jonghyun and Taemin in the chair. Sea really should get more than one. Jinki shuffles to stand behind the chair with his hands on the back, looking a little nervous. Minho raises sear eyebrows and turns to Kibum because sea already knows that somehow whatever happened or is going to happen is their fault.

“Okay, what?” sea asks. The overly cheery grin pulls up Kibum’s lips, the one that they use whenever they pretend like Minho is the light of their life to get a favor. Minho sighs, returning sear chin to sear hand in sear usual tired position before Kibum says anything. Sea just wants to be ready.

“So, you know how,” Kibum starts, “you said you were thinking about hiring someone to do little tours of the Jelly Wonderland?”

“Oh,” Minho says, understanding.

“Oh,” Taemin says, surprised.

“Oh!” Jonghyun smiles, excited.

“Oh,” Jinki says, flustered.

Kibum doesn’t say “oh.” Minho is a little disappointed that they didn't keep the chain going. They just look at sear, leaning closer and wiggling their eyebrows pleadingly in that way they do. Minho shakes sear head with a fond chuckle before focusing back on Jinki to speak.

“I mean,” sea says. “I wasn’t really going to start looking until next month. And then I’d have to run it by the big boss first anyway. And we’d need to do an interview and everything.”

“That’s all fine,” Jinki shrugs. “I’m not unemployed now. I can wait. I just.” He takes a short breath and grips the chair tighter for a moment. “Kibummie, and these two, and you also, I think,” he says. “You all say working here helps you, you know… connect. With your, um. Kintypes. And I--” He runs his fingers through his hair with a sigh. “I can barely call jellyfish my kintype without feeling guilty right now. You know?” Minho hums in acknowledgement. Sea knows. The others hum little noises of affirmation also, Jonghyun reaching up to pat Jinki’s hand gently. Jinki looks minutely heartened by the support and laces his fingers casually with Jonghyun’s. “I can give you my contact info and you can just call me when you’re ready?” he asks. Minho nods easily. Sounds like a good plan.

“Nice,” Taemin grins. He stands up, stretches, tugs Jonghyun to his feet. “I’m hungry,” he says next. Kibum rolls his eyes; Jonghyun tsks and pets his hair out of his face sympathetically.

“Wanna go to that Spanish restaurant across the street?” he asks. “We can be back in time for Hyo to give me back my earring.” Mer shoots a little frown at Minho, which Minho just snorts at. Mer’s only pretending to be mad now.

“Can I come with?” Kibum asks, hopping off of Minho’s desk.

“Me too,” Jinki adds. Jonghyun smiles wide at both of them and nods. Mer turns that smile to MInho not ten seconds after he was just fake glaring at him.

“Can you take a break now?” mer asks. Minho sighs. Sea wishes sea could, but sea has an aquarium to manage, an ocean to take care of. Especially with one of the other managers being busy with something else. Sea has to get back up to speed on the stuff sea might have missed when sea swapped out with Minjung for like, an hour.

“Bring me back some fries,” sea says. Taemin nods in vague agreement as he grabs Jonghyun’s wrist and tugs mer out. Jonghyun grabs the other two and practically skips out, the other two following amusedly. Minho leans back in sear chair with a long breath. Slipping back into sear headspace, sea focuses for a moment until cute little jellyfish appear in the ocean outside.


End file.
